Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Congress chief Salman Khurshid.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on February 18 stated the Congress must not relaxation on its laurels and make use of the momentum gained throughout Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in forging a coalition of events against the BJP.
The JD(U) chief asserted that such a formation must take form “at the earliest” ( jaldi se jaldi) in order that the BJP, which has a brute majority within the Lok Sabha with greater than 300 seats, might be bundled out for “less than 100” within the normal elections subsequent 12 months.
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“I would like to tell my friends in the Congress that the Yatra went very well. But they must not stop at that”, stated Mr. Kumar, turning in direction of former Union Minister and senior Congress chief Salman Khurshid at a operate in Patna.
The event was an “All India Congress” organised by CPI(ML) Liberation, which helps the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ authorities within the State from exterior, on the theme “save democracy, save constitution, drive out Fascism”.
Mr. Kumar insisted that his exit from the NDA final 12 months had introduced the curtains down on the BJP’s makes an attempt to broaden its footprints within the State “but we need to achieve something similar on the national level”.
Maintaining that he had no ambitions for himself, the longest serving CM, now 71 years previous, stated “if my advice is heeded, it will benefit the country” in addition to events going through the warmth of the BJP’s close to hegemonic standing.
The Chief Minister, who shunned mentioning the BJP and its leaders by title in his trademark fashion, stated the Lok Sabha polls had been a possibility for ‘in logon se mukti‘ (liberation from these folks).
He additionally expressed concern over rising communal tensions within the nation, the place “Hindus and Muslims had lived in peace despite the blood-soaked legacy of Partition”.
In an obvious dig on the RSS, the BJP’s father or mother physique, he remarked “those who had played no role in the struggle for Independence are now trying to rewrite history”.
He additionally made an oblique reference to allegations of the Narendra Modi authorities’s makes an attempt to stamp out dissent by unleashing central investigating companies towards whistleblowers.
” Jo koi bhi kahta hai kuchh gadbad hai, uske saath kya hota hai (just look at what happens to those who point out anything that is wrong)”, stated the JD(U) supremo, whose willingness to play a “national role” has fuelled a lot speculations, although he himself has detested his cadre’s penchant for elevating “Nitish for PM” slogans.
Mr. Kumar additionally recalled his visits to Delhi shortly after becoming a member of ‘ Mahagathbandhan‘ when he met political leaders as different as Rahul Gandhi, CPI(M) secretary normal Sitaram Yechury and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Besides Mr. Kumar and Mr. Khurshid, those that spoke on the operate included Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, who belongs to RJD, and CPI(ML) Liberation’s secretary normal Dipankar.
